History of Rome, books 1-10

Great alarm seized the patricians; the looks of the tribunes were now as menacing as those of the decemvirs had been. M. Duillius the tribune imposed a salutary check upon their excessive exercise of authority.

“They have gone,” he said, “far enough in the assertion of our liberty and the punishment of our opponents, so for this year I will allow no man to be brought to trial or cast into prisons.

I disapprove of old crimes, long forgotten, being raked up, now that the recent crimes have been atoned for by the punishment of the decemvirs. The unceasing care which both the consuls are taking to protect your liberties is a guarantee that nothing will be done which will call for the power of the tribunes.”

This spirit of moderation shown by the tribune relieved the fears of the patricians, but it also intensified their resentment against the consuls, for they seemed to be so wholly devoted to the plebs, that the safety and liberty of the patricians were a matter of more immediate concern to the plebeian than they were to the patrician magistrates. It seemed as though their adversaries would grow weary of inflicting punishment on them sooner than the consuls would curb their insolence.

It was pretty generally asserted that they had shown weakness, since their laws had been sanctioned by the senate, and no doubt was entertained that they had yielded to the pressure of circumstances.

After matters had been settled in the City and the position of the plebs firmly assured, the consuls left for their respective provinces. Valerius wisely suspended operations against the combined forces of the Aequi and Volscians.

If he had at once hazarded an engagement, I question whether, considering the temper of both Rome and the enemy after the inauspicious leadership of the decemvirs, he would not have incurred a serious defeat.

Taking up a position about a mile from the enemy, he kept his men in camp. The enemy formed up for battle, and filled the space between the camps, but their challenge met with no response from the Romans.

Tired at last of standing and vainly waiting for battle, and regarding victory as practically conceded to them, the two nations marched away to ravage the territories of the Hernici and Latins. The force left behind was sufficient to guard the camp, but not to sustain an action.

On seeing this the consul made them in their turn feel the terror which they had inspired, drew up his men in order of battle and challenged them to fight.

As, conscious of their reduced strength, they declined an engagement, the courage of the Romans at once rose, and they looked upon the men who kept timidly within their lines as already defeated.

After standing the whole day eager to engage, they retired at nightfall; the enemy in a very different state of mind sent men hurriedly in all directions to recall the plundering parties; those in the neighbourhood hastened back to camp, the more distant ones were not traced.

As soon as it grew light, the Romans marched out, prepared to storm their camp if they did not give them the chance of a battle. When the day was far advanced without any movement on the part of the enemy, the consul gave the order to advance. As the line moved forward, the Aequi and Volscians, indignant at the prospect of their victorious armies being protected by earthworks rather than by courage and arms, clamoured for the signal for battle.

It was given, and part of their force had already emerged from the gate of the camp, whilst others were coming down in order and taking up their allotted positions, but before the enemy could mass his whole strength in the field the Roman consul delivered his attack.

They had not all marched out of the camp, those who had done so were not able to deploy into line, and crowded together as they were, they began to waver and sway. Whilst they looked round helplessly at each other, undecided what to do, the Romans raised their war-cry, and at first the enemy

gave ground, then, when they had recovered their presence of mind and their generals were appealing to them not to give way before those whom they had defeated, the battle was restored.

On the other side the consul bade the Romans remember that on that day for the first time they were fighting as free men on behalf of a free Rome. It was for themselves that they would conquer, the fruits of their victory would not go to decemvirs.

The battle was not being fought under an Appius, but under their consul Valerius, a descendant of the liberators of the Roman people, and a liberator himself.

They must show that it was owing to the generals, not to the soldiers, that they had failed to conquer in former battles; it would be a disgrace if they showed more courage against their own citizens than against a foreign foe, or dreaded slavery at home more than abroad.

It was only Verginia whose chastity was imperilled, only Appius whose licentiousness was dangerous, in a time of peace, but if the fortune of war should turn against them, every one's children would be in danger from all those thousands of enemies.

He would not forebode disasters which neither Jupiter nor Mars their Father would permit to a City founded under those happy auspices. He reminded them of the Aventine and the Sacred Hill, and besought them to carry back unimpaired dominion to that spot where a few months before they had won their liberties.

They must make it clear that Roman soldiers possessed the same qualities now that the decemvirs were expelled which they had before they were created, and that Roman courage was not weakened by the fact that the laws were equal for all.

After this address to the infantry, he galloped up to the cavalry. “Come, young men,” he shouted, “prove yourselves superior to the infantry in courage, as you are superior to them in honour and rank.

They dislodged the enemy at the first onset, do you ride in amongst them and drive them from the field. They will not stand your charge, even now they are hesitating rather than resisting.”

With slackened rein, they spurred their horses against the enemy already shaken by the infantry encounter, and sweeping through their broken ranks were carried to the rear. Some, wheeling round in the open ground, rode across and headed off the fugitives who were everywhere making for the camp.

The line of infantry with the consul in person and the whole of the battle rolled in the same direction; they got possession of the camp with an immense loss to the enemy, but the booty was still greater than the carnage.

The news of this battle was carried not only to the City, but to the other army amongst the Sabines. In the City it was celebrated with public rejoicings, but in the other camp it fired the soldiers to emulation.

By employing them in incursions and testing their courage in skirmishes, Horatius had trained them to put confidence in themselves instead of brooding over the disgrace incurred under the leadership of the decemvirs, and this had gone far to make them hope for ultimate success.

The Sabines, emboldened by their success of the previous year were incessantly provoking them and urging them to fight, and wanting to know why they were wasting their time in petty incursions and retreats like bandits, and frittering away the effort of one decisive action in a number of insignificant engagements.

Why, they tauntingly asked, did they not meet them in a pitched battle and trust once for all to the fortune of war?

The Romans had not only recovered their courage, but they were burning with indignation. The other army, they said, was about to return to the City in triumph, whilst they were exposed to the taunts of an insolent foe. When would they ever be a match for the enemy if they were not now?

The consul became aware of these murmurings of discontent, and after summoning the soldiers to an assembly, addressed them as follows: “How the battle was fought on Algidus, soldiers, I suppose you have heard. The army behaved as the army of a free people ought to behave. The victory was won by the generalship of my colleague and the bravery of his soldiers.

As far as I am concerned, I am ready to adopt that plan of operations which you, my soldiers, have the courage to execute. The war may either be prolonged with advantage, or brought to an early close.

If it is to be protracted I shall continue the method of training which I have begun, so that your spirits and courage may rise day by day. If you want it brought to a decisive issue, come now, raise such a shout as you will raise in battle as a proof of your willingness and courage.”

After they had raised the shout with great alacrity, he assured them that, with the blessing of heaven, he would comply with their wishes and lead them out to battle on the morrow. The rest of the day was spent in getting their armour and weapons ready.

No sooner did the Sabines see the Romans forming in order of battle the next morning than they also advanced to an engagement which they had long been eager for. The battle was such as would be expected between armies both of which were full of self-confidence —the one proud of its old and unbroken renown, the other flushed with its recent victory.

The Sabines called strategy to their aid, for, after giving their line an extent equal to that of the enemy, they kept 2000 men in reserve to make an impression on the Roman left when the battle was at its height.

By this flank attack they had almost surrounded and were beginning to overpower that wing, when the cavalry of the two legions —about 600 strong- -sprang from their horses and rushed to the front to support their comrades, who were now giving way.

They checked the enemy's advance and at the same time roused the courage of the infantry by sharing their danger, and appealing to their sense of shame, by showing that whilst the cavalry could fight either mounted or on foot, the infantry, trained to fight on foot, were inferior even to dismounted cavalry.

So they resumed the struggle which they were giving up and recovered the ground they had lost, and in a moment not only was the battle restored but the Sabines on that wing were even forced back.

The cavalry returned to their horses, protected by the infantry through whose ranks they passed, and galloped off to the other wing to announce their success to their comrades. At the same time they made a charge on the enemy, who were now demoralised through the defeat of their strongest wing. None showed more brilliant courage in that battle.

The consul's eyes were everywhere, he commended the brave, had words of rebuke wherever the battle seemed to slacken. Those whom he censured displayed at once the energy of brave men, they were stimulated by a sense of shame, as much as the others by his commendation.

The battle-cry was again raised, and by one united effort on the part of the whole army they repulsed the enemy; the Roman attack could no longer be withstood. The Sabines were scattered in all directions through the fields, and left their camp as a spoil to the enemy. What the Romans found there was not the property of their allies, as had been the case on Algidus, but their own, which had been lost in the ravaging of their homesteads.

For this double victory, won in two separate battles, the senate decreed thanksgivings on behalf of the consuls, but their jealousy restricted them to one day. The people, however, without receiving orders, went on the second day also in vast crowds to the temples, and this unauthorised and spontaneous thanksgiving was celebrated with almost greater enthusiasm than the former.

The consuls had mutually agreed to approach the City during these two days and convene a meeting of the senate in the Campus Martius.

Whilst they were making their report there on the conduct of the campaigns, the leaders of the senate entered a protest against their session being held in the midst of the troops, in order to intimidate them. To avoid any ground for this charge the consuls immediately adjourned the senate to the Flaminian Meadows, where the temple of Apollo —then called the Apollinare —now stands.

The senate by a large majority refused the consuls the honour of a triumph, whereupon L. Icilius, as tribune of the plebs, brought the question before the people.

Many came forward to oppose it, particularly C. Claudius, who exclaimed in excited tones that it was over the senate, not over the enemy, that the consuls wished to celebrate their triumph. It was demanded as an act of gratitude for a private service rendered to a tribune, not as an honour for merit.

Never before had a triumph been ordered by the people, it had always lain with the senate to decide whether one was deserved or not; not even kings had infringed the prerogative of the highest order in the State. The tribunes must not make their power pervade everything, so as to render the existence of a council of State impossible. The State will only be free, the laws equal, on condition that each order preserves its own rights, its own power and dignity.

Much to the same effect was said by the senior members of the senate, but the tribes unanimously adopted the proposal. That was the first instance of a triumph being celebrated by order of the people without the authorisation of the senate.

This victory of the tribunes and the plebs very nearly led to a dangerous abuse of power. A secret understanding was come to amongst the tribunes that they should all be reappointed and to prevent their factious purpose from being too noticeable they were to secure a continuance of the consuls in office also.

They alleged as a reason the agreement of the senate to undermine the rights of the plebs by the slight they had cast on the consuls:

“What,” they argued, “would happen if, before the laws were yet securely established, the patricians should attack fresh tribunes through consuls belonging to their own party?

For the consuls would not always be men of the stamp of Valerius and Horatius, who subordinated their own interests to the liberty of the plebs.” By a happy chance it fell to the lot of M. Duillius to preside over the elections.

He was a man of sagacity, and foresaw the obloquy that would be incurred by the continuance in office of the present magistrates. On his declaring that he would accept no votes for the former tribunes his colleagues insisted that he should either leave the tribes free to vote for whom they chose, or else resign the control of the elections to his colleagues who would conduct them according to law rather than at the will of the patricians.

As a contention had arisen, Duillius sent for the consuls and asked them what they intended to do about the consular elections. They replied that they should elect fresh consuls. Having thus gained popular supporters for a measure by no means popular, he proceeded in company with them into the Assembly.

Here the consuls were brought forward to the people and the question was put to them, “If the Roman people, remembering how you have recovered their liberty for them at home, remembering, too, your services and achievements in war, should make you consuls a second time, what do you intend to do?”

They declared their resolution unchanged, and Duillius, applauding the consuls for maintaining to the last an attitude totally unlike that of the decemvirs, proceeded to hold the election. Only five tribunes were elected, for owing to the efforts of the nine tribunes in openly pushing their canvass, the other candidates could not get the requisite majority of votes.

He dismissed the Assembly and did not hold a second election, on the ground that he had satisfied the requirements of the law, which nowhere fixed the number of tribunes, but merely enacted that the office of tribune should not be left vacant.

He ordered those who had been elected to co-opt colleagues, and recited the formula which governed the case as follows: “If I require you to elect ten tribunes of the plebs; if on this day you have elected less than ten, then those whom they co-opt shall be lawful tribunes of the plebs by the same law, in like manner as those whom you have this day made tribunes of the plebs.”

Duillius persisted in asserting to the last that the commonwealth could not possibly have fifteen tribunes, and he resigned office, after having won the goodwill of patricians and plebeians alike by his frustration of the ambitious designs of his colleagues.

Fresh Internal Dissensions.The new tribunes of the plebs studied the wishes of the senate in coopting colleagues; they even admitted two patricians of consular rank, Sp. Tarpeius and A. Aeternius.

The new consuls were Spurius Herminius and T. Verginius Caelimontanus, who were not violent partisans of either the patricians or the plebeians. They maintained peace both at home and abroad.

L. Trebonius, a tribune of the plebs, was angry with the senate because, as he said, he had been hoodwinked by them in the cooptation of tribunes, and left in the lurch by his colleagues.

He brought in a measure providing that when tribunes of the plebs were to be elected, the presiding magistrate should continue to hold the election until ten tribunes were elected. He spent his year of office in worrying the patricians, which led to his receiving the nickname of “ Asper,” (i.e. “the Cantankerous”).

The next consuls were M. Geganius Macerinus and C. Julius. They appeased the quarrels which had broken out between the tribunes and the younger members of the nobility without interfering with the powers of the former or compromising the dignity of the patricians.

A levy had been decreed by the senate for service against the Volscians and Aequi, but they kept the plebs quiet by holding it over, and publicly asserting that when the City was at peace everything abroad was quiet, whereas civil discord encouraged the enemy.

Their care for peace led to harmony at home. But the one order was always restless when the other showed moderation.

Whilst the plebs was quiet it began to be subjected to acts of violence from the younger patricians. The tribunes tried to protect the weaker side, but they did little good at first, and soon even they them- selves were not exempt from ill-treatment, especially in later months of their year of office. Secret combinations amongst the stronger party resulted in lawlessness, and the exercise of the tribunitian authority usually slackened towards the close of the year.

Any hopes the plebeians might place in their tribunes depended upon their having men like Icilius; the last two years they had had mere names.

On the other hand, the older patricians realised that their younger members were too aggressive, but if there were to be excesses they preferred that their own side should commit them rather than their opponents.

So difficult is it to observe moderation in the defence of liberty, while each man under the pretence of equality raises himself only by keeping others down, and by their very precautions against fear men make themselves feared, and in repelling injury from ourselves we inflict it on others as though there were no alternative between doing wrong and suffering it.

T. Quinctius Capitolinus and Agrippa Curius were the next consuls elected —the former for the fourth time. They found on entering office no disturbances at home nor any war abroad, though both were threatening.

The dissensions of the citizens could now no longer be checked, as both the tribunes and the plebs were exasperated against the patricians, owing to the Assembly being constantly disturbed by fresh quarrels whenever one of the nobility was prosecuted.

At the first bruit of these outbreaks, the Aequi and Volscians, as though at a given signal, took up arms. Moreover their leaders, eager for plunder, had persuaded them that it had been impossible to raise the levy ordered two years previously, because the plebs refused to obey, and it was owing to this that no armies had been sent against them;

military discipline was broken up by insubordination; Rome was no longer looked upon as the common fatherland; all their rage against foreign foes was turned against one another. Now was the opportunity for destroying these wolves blinded by the madness of mutual hatred.

With their united forces they first completely desolated the Latin territory; then, meeting with none to check their depredations, they actually approached the walls of Rome, to the great delight of those who had fomented the war. Extending their ravages in the direction of the Esquiline gate, they plundered and harried, through sheer insolence, in the sight of the City.

After they had marched back unmolested with their plunder to Corbio, the consul Quinctius convoked the people to an Assembly.

I find that he spoke there as follows: “Though, Quirites, my own conscience is clear, it is, nevertheless, with feelings of the deepest shame that I have come before you. That you should know —that it will be handed down to posterity —that the Aequi and Volscians, who were lately hardly a match for the Hernici, have in the fourth consulship of T. Quinctius come in arms up to the walls of Rome with impunity!

Although we have long been living in such a state, although public affairs are in such a condition, that my mind augurs nothing good, still, had I known that this disgrace was coming in this year, of all others, I would have avoided by exile or by death, had there been no other means of escape, the honour of a consulship.

So then, if those arms which were at our gates had been in the hands of men worthy of the name, Rome could have been taken whilst I was consul! I had enough of honours, enough and more than enough of life, I ought to have died in my third consulship.

Who was it that those most dastardly foes felt contempt for, us consuls, or you Quirites? If the fault is in us, strip us of an office which we are unworthy to hold, and if that is not enough, visit us with punishment. If the fault is in you, may there be no one, either god or man, who will punish your sins; may you repent of them!